TITLE:
HUMAN RESOURCES ADMINISTRATOR
PETTY OFFICER 2nd CLASS CHEYANNE DELARONDE: I’m Petty Officer 2nd class Cheyanne Delaronde, from Vancouver, a Human Resource Administrator, currently posted to Canadian Forces Recruiting Centre Ottawa.
MASTER CORPORAL TYLER CAMERON: And I’m Master Corporal Tyler Cameron, from Abbotsford, British Columbia. I’m a Human Resources Administrator with the 3rd Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment, based out of CFB Petawawa.
NARRATOR: From the day they walk into a recruiting centre, up to the day that they retire, Human Resources Administrators, or HRAs for short, are responsible for some of the most important details in a Canadian Armed Forces member’s life… like making sure they get paid and that their benefits are all in order, or that their personal file is kept up-to-date when they get married or have a child. DELARONDE: We handle all of the administration paperwork for all our Canadian Armed Forces personnel. We also handle all the pay and allowances that come with that.
CAMERON: And also prepping files and members for deployment to overseas taskings or domestic exercises as well. Also, we deal a lot with official travel with green passports and insuring that all their travel documents are up-to-date so that there’s no issues for members deploying at any given point.
DELARONDE: A lot of our job has to do with people’s personal lives and pay, and benefits, that cause worry and concern when something does go wrong.
CAMERON: People who do like to do administration, we do it well, and the members see that in us – where they have a trust in us to give us a task or ask us a question and they know for a fact that they’re getting the right answer.
CAMERON: The coolest part of being a Human Resources Administrator is the people that you meet, and some of them you’ll never think will become your friend, but then they become your best friend. And we’re really a close-knit, tight family, and that’s the part I love about the job. We’re all here to help each other; we’re all here to succeed. And just having that is just amazing.
DELARONDE: I think the best part about being a Human Resources Administrator is helping people. Really making people at ease, to know that they can really count on me to make sure that all of their administration and pay are taken care of and then they don't have to worry about all the background stuff, and concentrate on what their real duties are.
NARRATOR: Once they complete their trade training, HRAs will be posted to one of the many Canadian Armed Forces bases and operational units across Canada, to serve with the Royal Canadian Navy, the Army, the Royal Canadian Air Force or even the Special Operations Forces.
CAMERON: As you start your career, you’ll start off with the stuff that you learned on your trade’s qualification course that you took initially. From there, then you kind of expand as tasks get given to you, you’ll get more complex, more challenging problems, and then you’ll start learning the more complex ways of solving issues that come up on a day-to-day basis for us.
NARRATOR: In addition to the one-on-one support HRAs provide to members here at home, there are also ample opportunities to deploy in support of Canadian Armed Forces operations and exercises both here in Canada and around the world.
CAMERON: On overseas deployments you can be doing the same job you’re doing here, just in an overseas environment. Taking care of members there, and then having that liaison back to home, where they can fix the problem, or they can assist in the problem.
DELARONDE: But essentially you are doing the same job that you would do at home, just with a little bit limited resources.
CAMERON: If you’re on exercise, you could be sitting in an office doing your admin work, to going out with the guys and trying to help them out with doing what they’re doing if they need an extra hand.
CAMERON: When I was in Ottawa, I was posted to Canadian Special Operations Force, and with that came a different realm of responsibilities and a different realm of challenges. They definitely are the pointy end of the stick, and they need that trust in you that you’re able to get the job done. They definitely expected elite results and it was beneficial to my career and my personal life.
CAMERON: Doing something for my country definitely fits into who I am. Every morning I wake up and I put a uniform on that has the flag on, and every day I look in the mirror and I’m beyond proud that I’m able to wear this flag on my left shoulder. And just to have that knowledge that I’m serving my country and I’m kind of working towards a better future for our country.
DELARONDE: It gave me so many life opportunities; allowed me to travel around the world. It gave me so many people that I’m so grateful to have in my life, that I wouldn’t have had the chance to meet anywhere else if I went any other route. I would do it all over again. The Canadian Armed Forces is an amazing job to have. You get so many experiences you can never imagine being on civilian street.